[28th September 2010]
[Embassy of the Republic of Ireland, Belgravia, London]
As per usual a few of the embassy staff had given me odd looks last night, and then again this morning, as myself and my 'magical co-workers' complete the final sigils and wards upon the meeting room. Nature of the job for the moment I supposed, as I drank down the ice-filled glass of water after the last few verses of the protective incantation.
All rather tiring for a man not officially not on active duty right now, but duty called and this wasn't an official meeting anyway either. A great way to be really; not officially working at a meeting that wasn't technically happening and being attended by people who weren't officially their either. All things considered then the room filled rather quickly for a meeting that wasn't happening and people who weren't there I mused silently as I refilled my glass.
"Is all in readiness? We are ready to get started" Mrs. McDonald queried of our little cluster of mages. I nodded, glancing at Constantine and Finn who did the same before turning my attention to the well dressed woman on my other side. Just my luck that I was the voice of politeness and diplomacy amongst the Irish side's three attending 'Experts' on the subject.
"Yes I believe so, if you're happy with all preparations from your side's point of view Miss Snow?"
She nodded, giving a friendly smile at the rest of us...well at myself and Mrs. McDonald, and avoiding glaring at Constantine which passed for being friendly towards him I suppose "I am happy to say that all of the preparations, mystical or not, are to the standards agreed upon and I shall just confirm that to Sir Peter and I expect we can begin the meeting unless the Americans wish to inspect any of our work first of course"
Mrs. McDonald nodded back politely "Thank you Miss Snow, they are ready to begin and are happy to take your recommendation on the subject"
'Because they evidently don't have anyone of their own to do it' I didn't say as Georgiana Snow sashayed over one of senior British spies and the three aides surrounding. Joined a few moments later by the more rotund and well muscled Amanda Waller and her two US State Department aides, or spooks maybe, for a brief conversation. It was still hard to tell if the Americans were letting on they had no access to such resources, or if in this really nothing like A.R.G.U.S. existed.
Or if it did, existed without a department decided to the arcane side of the world; after all Cadmus existed here as Connor's existence proved. Something I doubt would have occurred without either support from the US government or, at the very least, tacit acceptance some faction within said government of it. Though that was a strong possibility thanks to LexCorp, influence, and the legalised bribery that was the American political system on both Earth's. Even if not quite as bad...well publicly bad perhaps...as over on the one that had been my previous life.
Whatever the case; it seemed everything was acceptable to their small grouping as well and soon I moved to sit at the prepared seating in our three little clusters of civil servants and 'experts' like myself on the subject at hand for this meeting. I wasn't complaining much of course as my own blundering around in Belle Reve, and the fallout with the Justice League, were something of a cause for this whole thing and whining about it would do me little good. Plus it gave us, as in me and SHIELD, a chance to get access to various things that could really, really, help now that my bosses' plans had sorta gone to shit.
"To begin, I wish to confirm that this meeting is not being recorded electronically; only written notes and pre-prepared documents from a secure device are being used. In part, this is due to avoid several of these matters becoming public at the moment. Another is that the several organisations, the Justice League foremost amongst them, possess extensive abilities to access these devices and my government does not wish to concern them with these issues till all the parties at this table have reached a more formal position..."
Mrs. McDonald began after a few moments as the stapled paper documents were passed around after the doors were closed. Meta-human or shizo-tech hacking of electronic systems was a problem on this Earth, especially for Intelligence Services, and after the Team's evident little jaunt into the Pentagon without me...well legality didn't see high on their priority lists. I'm a superhero evidently counted as valid search warrant to some. And since the things we were going to discuss could be seen in a negative light, considering the reaction a few days ago so, keeping it all quiet a few months, a year or two at most, till we went public seemed to be for the best.
The Justice League would find out eventually, mind reading snoop after all, but it was harder to shut down an established international agreement than drumming up issues with the US public to ones at the discussion stage alone. That and the Government were angry, quietly and smile to their faces angry, at the 'loss of future prestige' my removal had caused them in their own opinions so I expect that had something to do with the decision.
Most had seen me as Jack O'Lantern new, improved, and not likely to go rogue like that fucking idiot had a few decades ago after that incarnation of UN version of a superhero group had become defunct. So I largely stayed quiet for the first hour, beyond a brief description of the anti-scrying wards we'd put in place, and nature of my involvement with the Justice League of course, as a basic set of agreements were hammered out on the discussion points.
Or to be more accurate revealing some very basic information on the existence of SHIELD, the enchanted weapons the likes of Waller wanted very obviously, and the general thrust of what all three sides wanted. This was no true diplomatic meeting I found as it was very much straight talk, polite straight talk in general but it felt much more like a business meeting. A technical one at that as it progressed, one where time and secrecy left little time for more drawn out talks. Thankfully we hit something I wanted to discuss pretty rapidly as it became my turn to reply.
"Yes many of these myths are the real deal, but they are mixed in with fakes so it is often impossible to tell without a mage at hand, or even then knowing the conditions the artefact can come to work under, or not under as is often the case sometimes. Many of which are sitting right now in public view in museums, or in private collections under minimal security, I must point out. Anything within Ireland we've made an effort to check and contain but as the situation with Wotan during the summer showed it could be...is...a global problem. One of the items we have been able to identify as the legitimate article is the Ace of Winchesters. This weapon from all reports is capable of destroying demonic entities in totality..."
I sighed and made a hand motion at Constantine who nodded in agreement "...which is rather amazing, and incredibly useful even if only on the mystical. Currently it is in the possession of certain elements of the New York underworld; namely a man named Zerkele, but he seems to have the support of Voodoo priest and legitimate businessman Papa Midnite. My government intends to purchase this artefact, based on its supposed abilities and our current programme as discussed, but we wish to make this a joint study as while the weapon itself is invaluable...the creation and paper trail is something we wish to explore just as much"
Amanda Waller, scowly face ever present hummed in thought across from us before raising in voice. Though that could be the fact she was being removed from Warden of Belle Reve and 'promoted' to a new position within the State Department related to what we were now discussing "Your interest lies in the creation of the weapon? And the question would lie in why the United States should allow it to pass outside its borders if it is as valuable as indicated"
I shrugged. The question had been expected, and was an offer of good faith I'd have preferred to make after we'd gotten the rifle but...I wasn't setting government policy so it wasn't up to me "In part because without mages to study it and background basics on enchantment, which ourselves and the British government currently have and are willing to train others on, the rifle itself is merely an impressive but limited weapon. One of a kind, and not overly useful against meta-humans unless testing reveals otherwise. Atlantis, from everything I've learned from Aqualad and his mentor, has a production methodology on magical weapons coming from a tradition perhaps centuries old. Themsycira as well, though from everything I've heard or read that's limited to pre-gunpowder warfare era weapons..."
I motioned at my compatriots, then at Miss Snow at the British table "...while we here do not have any such tradition beyond occasional one offs, or specific individuals. Our own production is basically taking existing modern small arms..."
Don't mention the tanks or the modified Air Corps trainers I thought to myself as I pressed on
"...and then imbuing arcane energies into them. Well, it's a little more complex than that, but to keep things simple that's the basics and that's both energy intensive as well inefficient for maintaining a long term enchantment. Even with that it basically limits production to minimal levels - such as equipping myself and a handful of others. To able to develop a longer term setup studying other methods used in the past would be an ideal starting point. Which also would feed back into your query about allowing us access to the Ace of Winchesters; most arcane based weapons tend to be within Europe, the Middle East and Asia while the United States tends to only have imported museum pieces and more recently developed items like the Ace"
'Basically, most of the weapons, and the vast majority of anything resembling existing traditions, exists over on our side of the ocean rather than yours. Not sharing hurts you more in the long run quite possibly' I left on said as Georgiana Snow began her own summary of the weapon, or what she knew of it at least, and on the British position on such a purchase. I'd love to say it was just good faith on our part bringing up the purchase, but after my 'magic guns' came to light my bosses were pretty sure such a purchase would get noticed, or at least why we would be interested in it.
If word got out...well that might very well scare our seller into disappearing with the item. At least the British had something to offer in this regards also, in the failed unintended category though, as Constantine got to speak. Internally I hoped that he didn't go off on a tangent, or just offend anyone too much more than we'd factored in. Thing was he and his mate Chas had blown up this little near disaster just after the fiasco with the Prince of Wales (and without me or SHIELD thankfully) so it somewhat had to be left to him to explain. Because it was best to let them know the problems that can come from messing with things you didn't understand without some precautions in place. Brits knew of course...and I'm sure it had been a lovely talk at the time...
"...so dem bullets and weapons e' was testin built up a pile of damaged souls. Iff'n it'd gone on any longer it weren't just Dr. Amis that woulda got killed, or most them involved fuckin damaged in the head after. Were a soulstorm building and ye fuck up with stuff like that ye end up fuckin' up big and get a lotta folk killed who've no idea what's happenin till it's too late. The trick is anyone can' do magic, and its even worse and more dangerous when did don't know their even doin ought like that"
The younger woman beside Waller noted something down before glancing up at us "This was achieved by conventional means?"
John glanced at me, and since the Brits didn't fill in the momentary silence I sighed and moved to answer the question "As best we can tell, or more accurately it was a confluence of factors testing conventional munitions in an area with magical residue and the Doctor's own beliefs spilling over. What's worse they were largely useless, the bullets and guns I mean, as they weren't any more powerful than regular ones. All they'd do is set the stage for a future disaster if entering widespread usage. Regulating this in the future is just as important as developing such things as people are blundering over the line anyway. So too..."
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